Ipswich Town’s camp is rocked by illness ahead of Stoke City clash

A trip to Stoke City may be the last thing Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna wants right now, with sickness ravaging his team, but it is on the menu for his faltering promotion chances.

The Tractor Boys will perform on New Year’s Day at the bet365 Stadium (3 p.m. kick-off), where new Stoke City head coach Steven Schumacher is overseeing a steady comeback of the Potters.

Back in August, a tame Stoke were trounced 2-0 at Portman Road, and Potters fans would no doubt have been looking forward to this encounter as the festive season approached.

However, in that time, Ipswich have been thrashed at Leeds, drew with Leicester City and QPR, and have been hampered by a number of critical injuries and sickness in the team. Could they be susceptible against a Stoke City club that has not lost a game since Schumacher’s arrival from Plymouth to replace Alex Neil?

McKenna was clearly disappointed after Friday’s goalless draw at Portman Road with struggling QPR. The stalemate dropped Ipswich to eighth place, eight points behind leaders Leicester, and three points behind third-placed Southampton.

“It was a really difficult build up to the game, right up until two minutes before kickoff when Nathan Broadhead is vomiting in the locker room,” he said. There are a few players that have the vomiting bug, and there will most likely be a couple more.

“It was a difficult build-up, and the game wasn’t great.” Of course, there are several factors at play. It’s the third game in six days, and the players are all humans.”

“Leif Davis has a calf strain,” he said of Stoke and the players who might be available. We’re evaluating him on a daily basis; we don’t know how long it’ll take.

“As I previously stated, Wes Burns is very ill with the virus that is circulating in the camp.” Nathan Broadhead was vomiting during the warm-up, indicating that he was infected with the same illness that had infected a couple of staff members.

“Is there anyone else here?” George Hirst is definitely out with a hamstring injury sustained against Leicester], Samy (Morsy) was suspended for QPR but will return, and Harry Clarke has an Achilles problem that needs to be monitored.

“To be honest, we’re still in the process of assessing,” McKenna told TownTV. “We won’t have everyone back; we might have one from the other night, hopefully.”

“We’ll see how they’re doing today.” It’s something we’ll have to decide on the morning of the game.”

The Potters will be watching the return of Ipswich captain Morsy, who was suspended for the QPR game. The former Port Vale man scored the Tractor Boys’ equalizer in their Boxing Day tie with leaders Leicester.

Stoke have drawn with Watford, Millwall, and West Brom, as well as defeating Birmingham City, since Schumacher’s arrival at the bet365 Stadium.